Tales of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth
by Odekake
Summary: Explorers gather in cities of adventure in the hopes of fame and greatness. But even the most famous guilds remembered by history have their own untold stories.


Tales of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth

A/N: Even though Etrian Odyssey is my favorite series, I had a hard time writing anything for it. Nowadays, I realize it's because everyone has their own guilds and their own stories, so reading about someone else's OCs may not be all that interesting.

Partly because of this reason, this will not be a comprehensive story of one guild, but snippets of various events and interactions of all my guilds, with no real cohesive timeline other than taking place at some point throughout their respective worlds.

Disclaimer: I do not own Etrian Odyssey or anything else you may recognize.

!

 _Spark Guild of Etria_

Genji had never thought he'd become an explorer – he was an ardent pacifist, not a fighter of any kind!

But he was a healer, and he had always seen it as his life's calling. After he'd finished training under his hometown's best medic, Genji had wanted to travel the world so he could help those who were in need. Lacking the skills necessary to make such a journey on his own, however, he ended up hiring a bodyguard – a wandering swordswoman named Reimu, who had stopped for a fortnight at his family's inn.

How Reimu felt about that turn of events Genji never did know, but she seemed content enough to receive pay just for wandering around with him in tow. Of course, Genji had to stop and help anyone who was sick or injured, which caused them both quite a few detours, but Reimu didn't seem to care about losing time. She didn't even seem to have an end location in mind.

Or that was what he'd thought. Eventually, they arrived at Etria – a bustling city full of explorers and adventure. Genji had never seen anything like it. So huge and lively, filled with people from all walks of life and mysteries yet to be solved –

And it was as far as Reimu was willing to take him. Genji had protested, asking if she'd decided he were more trouble than he was worth, but Reimu had always had Etria in mind as her goal. She was a swordswoman who was always looking for a new challenge, a new way of testing her strength, and the Etrian labyrinth gave her just that.

Completely at a loss for what to do, Genji evaluated his options. He couldn't go home – or even leave the city; it would be nothing short of suicide for someone with no combat prowess to go off into the world alone. Perhaps he could find work as a medic; a city of explorers facing constant dangers could surely use more healers. Or … he could continue traveling with Reimu, into the labyrinth where they would certainly encounter perilous creatures, arduous environments, many unknown horrors …

It should've been such a simple choice, but having been with Reimu for the better part of a year, Genji found that he'd grown fond of her. And after everything she'd put up with for him, if his medical knowledge could be of any use to her in the labyrinth then that would be enough. So he'd gone after her and said that he wanted to continue traveling with her, and that he could be of use with his healing.

Much like the start of their first journey, if Reimu had any problems with the arrangement she said nothing and simply allowed him to accompany her. It wasn't long afterwards that they met up with three others – Mana, Aoki, and Sen – and the five of them formed the Spark Guild.

 _Group Guild of Tharsis_

Junseo was a pretty awful medic, all things considered.

As the sole permanent healer of the Group Guild, his primary duty was to keep his team alive and well – which he did, to his credit. His medical potential had no equal; he had the natural talent to become a peerless healer. Junseo certainly had the _ability_ to be an amazing medic.

It was his complete disinterest in the profession that made him mediocre.

Unlike everyone else who joined the field, Junseo had never wanted to be a medic – never would have even considered it had the people around him not pushed him towards healing. He had quite a gift, they had said, saving lives was a worthy cause and one he should strongly consider. And it wasn't as if they were wrong – it was far more noble to go around saving lives than bashing in the skulls of monsters. Junseo knew this, but he still found healing to be incredibly boring.

Which was why he had jumped at the chance to explore the Tharsis labyrinth, the latest center of adventure. There would be plenty of things to do, new sights to see, and many monsters to fight – and his skills would be useful to any guild that needed healing, a hastily cobbled excuse made only to justify leaving his duties as a medic behind to become an adventurer. And so, with only basic healing skills and no knowledge of how to treat ailments, Junseo headed off to Tharsis.

His guild quickly learned that Junseo was also not completely sane.

(They didn't mind, though. Only the insane would be crazy enough to explore the labyrinthine mazes of the unknown in the name of adventure. A sane person would've avoided such dangers. In a way, they were all probably insane in their own ways.)

Even with Junseo's meager repertoire of spells (along with Mei-yun's reckless swordsmanship, Kang's limited combat abilities, Xia's subpar aim, and Ryuto's complete lack of social skills), the five of them had developed a rhythm. The Group Guild quickly rose to become one of the strongest and most successful guilds in Tharsis. Each battle taught them a new lesson; every fight made them more competent than before. Junseo had even improved his medical skills, not through hours of practice and study that he hated but through constant use and need.

Despite all that, Ryuto ended up having to take up healing duties in addition to his magic studies – further exploration had created more demand for healing, one that Junseo certainly wouldn't meet by himself.

 _Serenes Guild of Iorys_

When they'd first come to the city of Iorys, they had been five strangers who normally would've never crossed paths. By nightfall, they had become the founding members of the Serenes Guild.

Together, they ascended into the labyrinth and began to make a name for themselves – quickly becoming a team that everyone had their eyes on. The townspeople, the council, other explorers who knew of them – everyone expected great things of the Serenes Guild.

It had been around then that the stress of the labyrinth began to take its toll. Their lack of a medic – something that had gone surprisingly unnoticed until then – was beginning to catch up to them.

Reinhart and Alaina were the only members on their team who had any knowledge of healing, just the basics. Keeping everyone alive was becoming a difficult task for them, but Serenes still could have managed relying solely on their abilities. Instead, Leah decided to recruit some more explorers into their guild.

By the time Leah had finished recruiting new members, Serenes Guild had more than doubled in members. Mikoto grumbled about how the sheer number of rookies would drag them down, but Leah volunteered to train them all herself.

"You can manage without me for a little while!" she had said. "Oh, can you guys take Terin into the labyrinth with you? He's good with a bow and can heal – give Reinhart and Alaina a break!"

Terin was a botanist, and he got along with everyone immediately. He and Reylan chatted about magic until Mikoto got annoyed, at which point he'd either go help Alaina with the cooking or Reinhart in securing the perimeter. Every time they found new materials in the labyrinth, Terin would be ecstatic at the discovery – he marveled at all the sights around him, and it seemed as if nothing could break his sense of wonder.

And then, when their first real battle came around, Terin spent the entire fight in a frantic panic – his arrows missing all his targets by a wide margin – and completely forgot how to heal. Suffice to say, Leah had _not_ mentally prepared him for the dangers he'd face in the labyrinth.

Mikoto had been entirely unsympathetic. "We spent more time protecting him than he was helping us! Totally lame."

"Well, that last battle wasn't great, but give him another chance," Reylan had argued. "It was just one instance. He has room to improve, and he's the only healer we have."

"Hey, I didn't suggest getting rid of him! But he'd better get his act together, and fast!"

Guild Serenes may have agreed about their need for Terin's healing skills, but it took Alaina a week to convince him to rejoin the guild.


End file.
